Creating the Logo in Photoshop

To create the logo for my film, I decided to use the existing logo for "The Amory Wars" to create consistency between the comic books/Novels and the film DVD Case I will create.

Below is an image of the existing "The Amory Wars" Logo I will use for my DVD.

when i imported it into photoshop i created a project that was slightly taller than the current logo so i can add the name of the film underneath, also the image has a white background around it which i would have to sort out later on in the logo design process.

Next i searched on DaFont online to try and find a font that would fit with the style of the existing logo, after searching i found a font called "True Lies" which can be found here: http://www.dafont.com/true-lies.font

I then input the text for the name of the film "Secrets of the Early Universe" and used the colour dropper to select the same colour present at the top of the "M" in "The Amory Wars" Logo as seen in the image below.

As with the use of the existing "The Amory Wars" logo i used a colour already present in the logo to create a consistency between the different comic books and my DVD Case.

The next step is to try and unify the outer glow on the added text to that of the existing logo. To do this i used the built in FX on photoshop and added an outer glow with a low noise but a medium size. As shown in the image below.

The next step is to remove the white background from the existing logo to do this I hid the other layers and used the quick selection tool to remove the majority of the white background.

Now that the majority of the white background has been removed i created a blank layer and filled it in red, this is to make it easier to see the white sections that the quick selection tool missed as white is easier to see on red than a transparent background.

I then used the eraser tool on the logo layer and removed all of the content that the quick selection tool missed.

Now that the white background has been removed completely I copied the outer glow that I applied onto the "Secrets of the Early Universe" layer onto the Logo layer to make the outer glow the same.

once I copied over the outer glow i deleted the red layer as i no longer needed it.

Next step was to merge the two layers, excluding the background and copy it to the DVD Amaray Wrap project and place it in the Title position in the centre top of the front (right hand side)

DVD Label

In this post i will outline the process of creating a DVD Label in Illustrator

1. Create a square art board with a size greater than the diameter of the DVD with a 4mm bleed.



2. Next use the shortcut key CMD+R on mac and ctrl+r on PC to show the rulers and then click on the right hand ruler and drag into the centre of the screen to create the first guide. Then click on transform to set the guides X position to 65mm which is exactly half the size of the art board.

3. Next i need to follow the same process but click and drag from the top ruler to create the horizontal guide, using the transform menu to set the Y position to 65mm which is half of the size of the art board.

4. Next I created the outline circle with a diameter of 117.5mm by using the eclipse tool, holding ALT on the keyboard and click in the centre of the art board to bring up a menu box which allows you to enter the diameter of the circle you want to create.

5. Next i created an outline circle using the same process but with a diameter 4mm greater than the previous one (121.5mm)

6. Next i need to create guides with the circles by right clicking on the shape and selecting "Make Guides"

7. I then created the circle that represents the stacking ring but using the same method as before but creating the circle with the diameter of 16.7mm and then right clicking on the shape and selecting "Make Guides"

8. Using the same process again i then created the DVD hub with a diameter of 8.7mm and then right clicking on the shape and selecting "Make Guides"

Now the final image with all of the guides present is shown below.

The next post will deal with some initial sketches of the DVD Amaray Wrap on both paper and Photoshop.

Creating DVD Amaray Wrap in Photoshop

In this post i will outline the process of creating a DVD Amaray wrap in Adobe Photoshop.

1. Create a project using the combined size of both the front and back and spine of the wrap.

2. Create the first guide by navigating to View > New Guide and set the position to "5.125in" as seen in the image below.

3. Calculating the position of the next guide, which is adding the position of the first guide "5.125in" and the size of the spine which is "0.5in" then creating the second guide for the spine.

4. Next I created a guide for both the very left edge of the wrap and the very right edge of the wrap to give myself some guides to work to.

Now that I have created the guides for the front back and spine I can design the layout of the DVD wrap, for example setting the position of the title and barcode and also where to add the synopsis on the back of the case.

Brainstorming Ideas

In this blog post I will be brainstorming ideas for my DVD case sleeve, Shown above is an image of the mind map I created. 

In the mind map i have created sections referring to different aspects of the DVD case sleeve, for example the foreground content and the back of the case. 

I plan to use a few different fonts throughout the DVD Case sleeve, one of which will be a downloaded font from a popular font website DaFont.com. This website contains thousands of fonts available free for personal use. 

One font i have decided to use for a billboard i will attempt to create in Photoshop is Fine Eroded which can be found here: http://www.dafont.com/search.php?q=fine+eroded 

Below is an image of how the font looks, showing text that will be used on the billboard.

I have chosen this font as it looks as though it has been sprayed in or is worn via adverse weather conditions. The use of this type of font is usually seen on apocalyptic of end of world games and films.

This mind map is just for generation of ideas and does not contain the specifics for the final design, i will create another blog post, containing a mind map very similar to the one shown above outlining the final ideas, with images of the content that will be used within the DVD case inlay.

Second Stage Turbine Blade & InKeeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

In this post i will be exploring the content of the first two 'The Amory Wars' comic books which correspond to the first two Coheed and Cambria albums.

The first studio album Coheed and Cambria released was called "The Second Stage Turbine Blade" 

This album deals with the beginning of the saga as it is the bands first album, Although this deals with the beginning of the saga, the bands fifth studio album is the prequel album which deals with the beginning of the universe and leads up to the story contained in the first album. 
Although the rest of the saga is reflected in comic books the bands fifth studio album (the prequel) is reflected in a full length novel. 

The bands second studio album is called "InKeeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3".

This instalment follows on from the first album/Comic and deals with the secrets held within a planet called 'Silent Earth:3'. 

As album number 2 follows from number 1 seamlessly i plan to create this project as the feature length film for both, with a working title of "The Amory Wars: Secrets of the Early Universe". 

As the whole saga revolves around a few main characters i will be including on either my DVD case sleeve or DVD inlay.  These characters are as follows:

Coheed Kilgannon
Cambria Kilgannon
Claudio Kilgannon
Wilhelm Ryan

In the next post I will show some clippings from the comic books containing these characters.

Outline of Initial Idea

After much thought into the subject in which the DVD Case, Trailer and DVD will be based on I have decided to use an existing comic book called The Amory Wars but create a feature film based upon the characters within the comic.

The Amory Wars was written by Claudio Sanchez the lead singer from the band Coheed and Cambria and each album has a comic book which corresponds to the story told within the music in that album. 

To date they have recorded 7 studio albums and 4 of which have either a comic book or novel attached to it. 

Recently the rights to a "The Amory Wars" film were sold to Mark Wahlberg and Leverage to produce a live action feature length film.

There are several different main characters within "The Amory Wars" saga, the main 5 that i will focus on are Coheed Kilgannon, Cambria Kilgannon, Claudio Kilgannon, Inferno and Paranoia.

Below is an image of all of the main characters featured in the comic books.

The basic story line to the comic book is that Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon have been infected with a virus called the Monstar Virus, the first half of the story deals with Coheed and Cambria's battle against ultimate TriMage ruler of Heavens Fence Wilhelm Ryan, whereas the second half deals with their son (Claudio Kilgannon) who becomes The Crowing the foretold saviour of Heavens Fence. The whole saga is based on a universe called Heavens Fence, which is 78 planets aligned in triangular form, each held in position to the next planet by an energy called "The Keywork". 

Wilhelm Ryan is the ultimate Trimage ruler of heavens fence and is attempting to destroy Claudio Kilgannon with his red army which is controlled by Mayo Deftinwolf, one of the ways Wilhelm Ryan controls the people of heavens fence is by defending a "Black Rainbow"(this section of the comic book is based on Coheed and Cambria's 5th Studio Album) over the universe which sparks controversy whether it is a work of god or Ryan.

I plan to focus on the first two albums/comic books which are as follows:

Second Stage Turbine Blade

InKeeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3.

I will provide a more in depth outline of each installment in the next blog post and outline my plans to merge the two comic books/albums into one feature length film.

Research Into Existing Products

In this post I will research existing products in the same genre as my initial idea.
After doing several google searches i decided to look IMDb's Most popular Sci-Fi Video Games.
IMDb. 2014. IMDb: Most Popular Sci-Fi Video Games. [online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=sci_fi&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=game [Accessed: 10 Feb 2014]


1. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

This is the 4th instalment in the Assassin's Creed series which is set in the 18th century, In this instalment you can play as a Sailor, Privateer and Assassin Edward Kenway exploring on and around the islands in the Caribbean sea. 
Below I have added the games case cover and also some screenshots of gameplay for reference material when it comes to designing my own DVD case.

In the image above we can see the protagonist of the game "Assassin's Creed IV - Black Flag" he is posed in such a way that it is clear that he has just achieved another kill, this is also shown more obviously by the sailors (looks to be a British Empire captain) body laying in the extreme foreground, this section of the image has been blurred slightly to push focus onto the protagonist taking the centre of the frame.

In the background of the image we can see a ship displaying a pirate flag, this shows the pirates occupation of the caribbean during the 18th century.

The angle in which the image has been produced depicts the protagonist to be a powerful figure.

2. Injustice: Gods Among Us

This game is set in an alternate world where Superman has killed his wife Lois Lane and their unborn son and set off a nuclear explosion in metropolis after being drugged by The Joker.

This game not only fits into the Sci-Fi genre that i want to focus on but also fits into super heroes which is another theme in my initial idea.

As before, Below i have added the games case cover and also some screenshots of gameplay for reference material when it comes to designing my own DVD case.

In the image above we see the 5 main characters of the game taking the majority of the top half of the image, with the title of the game being right at the top of the image.  The centre character is 'The Joker', this implies that he is either the main character or the main perpetrator.

There is a bridge between the top and bottom half of the image, using the clouds/smoke from the bottom half of the image.

The bottom half of the image depicts a fight scene between Superman and Batman, Which are both usually depicted as heroes in their respective stories.

3. Mass Effect 3 

In this game Earth is under attack by a race of gigantic living ships known as Reapers. The main character Commander Shepard needs to unite all of the remaining living species on earth but needs a miracle, although Commander Shepard came back from the dead.

As before, Below i have added the games case cover and also some screenshots of gameplay for reference material when it comes to designing my own DVD case.

In the image above we can see the main character standing centre frame facing downwards. the image of this character has been superimposed on top of an image of a planet, Earth, Which is featured in this game. This is a very simple cover containing only 3 or 4 elements, the background (Earth), the main character taking centre frame, The meteors showering earth and the weapon that is covering the main characters hand, this has been given a glow to make it stand out from the other elements in the image.

In the next post i will be outlining my initial idea by researching the Comic Book/Music my DVD will be based on.

Outline of Blog

The purpose of this blog is to document the 3 separate stages included in this module, Stage 1 which is to create a DVD wrap in Adobe Photoshop which follows the design criteria set out in the module notes.
Stage 2 which is to create a DVD case with a logo which is to be created in either Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator and finally stage 3 is to create a 1 minute promotional video which is to be created in Adobe Premiere Pro, this can include images and templates previously created in both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

Throughout this blog i will document the way in which i created each element of the package, this will include screenshots of the process in photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro. Also creating tutorial videos to show the way in which i created each element.